Sunday, May 29, 2016

Cyber
security is a frequent topic in the news these days. The risk of information
theft often goes hand in hand with the convenience of electronic resources and
applications. There are things you can do to help keep your personal information
— and the sensitive student information you interact with — private. Personally
Identifiable Information (PII) such as credit cards, date of birth and Social
Security Numbers should not be shared on applications you do not trust.

Tips for keeping information secure

Anyone who
has been the victim of identity theft will likely tell you that the minor
inconvenience of taking action to protect your personal data is well worth it
to avoid the major disruption of having your sensitive information stolen.

·When
your computer prompts you to update the operating system, do it. These updates
often include security repairs.

·Log
off of any secure applications and close your web browser when you are finished.

·Beware of
using open Wi-Fi in public places to conduct secure transactions.

·Think
differently to create a more secure password. For example, use the first letter
of each word in a sentence to create your password. And, never write down or
share your user ID, password, or challenge questions/answers.

·Refrain
from opening emails with attachments if you don’t know the sender.

·Pay
attention to the information you are sharing on your social networks.

·Don’t
forget to be cautious with your offline data as well. Shred documents that
contain personal or financial information.

As someone who
deals with others’ personal information every day, you should place strong
emphasis on ensuring appropriate controls are in place to protect sensitive,
private or confidential student information.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

by Lindsay Walton, SI Faculty 2016

Assistant Director of Student Financial Services, University of Mount Union

I have to be honest. Until the
2014 MASFAA conference in Charleston, WV, I was unaware that MASFAA facilitated
such a fantastic and in-depth training opportunity called Summer Institute. As
one of the 2014 MASFAA scholarship recipients, I was stepping into foreign
territory as a first time MASFAA conference attendee. I was a MASFAA “newbie.” It
was there that I learned about Summer Institute after a few folks shared their
experiences. They spoke of learning NASFAA’s core modules and having incredible
opportunities to network with other financial aid professionals in the region. I
left Charleston knowing that I definitely wanted to look into attending the
following summer!

Summer Institute was appealing to
me for numerous reasons. On the brink of taking on a leadership role within my
office, I felt a growing sense of responsibility to really “know my stuff.” By
working at a small private university, wearing a lot of hats is not uncommon, but
I certainly didn’t know it all. I knew that. I was really determined to build
on my existing financial aid framework, fill in the gaps, and define the areas
that I lacked in knowledge and in experience. I also genuinely wanted to
“spread my wings” and become more involved in organizations to connect with other
professionals in the field. Additionally, I learned that Summer Institute
attendees have the option of taking the NASFAA credential tests for the modules
taught at no cost! With each test being right around $100 ordinarily, this was
a tremendous opportunity to showcase proven competency and skills backed by
NASFAA. What a great benefit! I saw Summer Institute as my chance to pursue
many of the items on my professional wish list!

I arrived in Indianapolis for Summer
Institute 2015 feeling excited and ready to go! There were 2 tracks for Summer
Institute which ran simultaneously- one for folks very new to the profession
and another for folks who were a little more seasoned. I was in the latter
group but both groups were taught the same material. It was a week-long crash
course in the foundations of financial aid, with a great deal of discussion
within the groups. Moreover, the instructors were fantastic! I was very
inspired by their passion to convey the material and genuine willingness to
answer questions. No question was too big or too small and I greatly
appreciated that.

The faculty encouraged us to
engage in discussions and share how our own schools were putting the ideas we
were learning about into practice. It naturally created a comfortable environment
to share best practices and trade contact information with each other for
future guidance or collaboration. I obtained specific contacts pertaining to
PowerFAIDS, verification, and loan processing in particular. It is reassuring
to know that I can reach out to these folks when I run into a problem or just
need some feedback. I hope that I can be a resource for them, as well!

Another key component of Summer
Institute was the ability to interact with prominent leaders who were attending
the Leadership Symposium, which ran simultaneously. During a crossover session,
Pamela Fowler, Executive Director at the University of Michigan, gave an
inspiring speech to the Summer Institute students. She encouraged us to get
involved and be the next wave of leaders in the financial aid field. The
motivation and genuine support she conveyed to all of us was unparalleled. Even
if we felt too new to the profession to get involved, she encouraged us to just
go ahead and jump in!

It was an intense week of
learning, but I was amazed at how much FUN I had! All attendees stayed in dorm
rooms and were matched up with a roommate. The intention was to promote social
interaction as much as possible. Each evening there was something planned in
order to promote collaboration and networking among Summer Institute and
Leadership Symposium attendees. We had game night with “Minute to Win It” one
evening. There was team trivia another evening. A major highlight was attending
a midweek minor league baseball game! There was also a “free night” with group
dinner options led by Summer Institute or Leadership faculty. The discussions
were great and it was interesting to learn about the stories and experiences of
others in the financial aid field.

I walked away from Summer
Institute a much more confident financial aid professional than the one that
arrived. I gained knowledge and experience to better prepare me as a leader and
established connections with prominent professionals in the field who continue
to encourage and support my growth. Being able to expand my professional
network was invaluable. I have also taken and passed all 11 NASFAA credential
tests for the modules that were taught at Summer Institute. That is something I
am very proud of and worked very hard to accomplish. It is refreshing to be
able to add these credentials to my professional repertoire.

The last year and a half or so
has been professionally eye-opening for me and especially gratifying. Thank you
to MASFAA and Summer Institute! My experiences with both have allowed
me to meet some really wonderful people and be a part of some great
opportunities. One opportunity in particular that I am very happy to share is
that I will be faculty at Summer Institute 2016 at Illinois State University June 13-17. I am very excited to be a resource for the attendees and
hopefully inspire them to get involved.

YOU ARE INVITED to Summer Institute 2016! Let’s learn about financial aid, meet some
great people, and have a lot of FUN!

Monday, May 23, 2016

by Gena Boling, SI Faculty 2016

Associate Director of Student Financial Aid, University of Missouri

Picture this, June 2011. St. Louis, Missouri. It was hot –
historic temperatures indicate it was around 97 degrees in June. I just
remember sweating – a lot. Sounds like a grand location to lay the building
blocks of a financial aid career.

I had been in financial aid for just a few months and
received a scholarship from MASFAP to attend the MASFAA Summer Institute to
immerse myself in financial aid knowledge. It would be my first experience with
the regional association at a time when I still had very little knowledge of
the state association. I didn’t know what to expect. But, I knew I had to go.

I was working at Stephens College at the time, and the
financial aid director left a few months prior, leaving the two remaining staff
in the office to our own devices. MASFAA Summer Institute seemed like a perfect
solution to the problem of training – one week, tons of topics, walk away with
knowledge it would have taken weeks, if not months to get around to training on
in the office. My administration was supportive, so I packed my bags and drove
to St. Louis to spend a week with a few of my closest financial aid friends,
whom I technically hadn’t met yet.

Summer Institute was scheduled to begin bright and early on
a Monday morning, so I arrived at the hotel Sunday evening and anxiously
awaited the start of the program. Nervous as could be, I arrived about twenty
minutes early to my first session and found I was alone in a room with the
Chair of the MASFAA Summer Institute Committee, Candi Frazier (West Virginia).
I remember wearing green and I remember Candi rushing up to me to introduce
herself – I think I’ll forever be known to her as the first person to arrive to
Summer Institute, and that’s okay with me. I’ve admired Candi’s work in
financial aid and in MASFAA since that moment and am pleased she remembers who
I am, at all.

Financial aid administrators from all across the region
began to pile into the room, eager to soak up information like sponges and we
weren’t disappointed. Several days of intense training, homework and review
each night, mixed with plenty of time for networking and getting to know each
other, including one very warm cookout in Pam Fowler’s backyard – it was an
excellent week. Let me tell you, no one can teach an EFC hand-calculation like
Pam Fowler (Michigan) and when you walk away from that session, you know how to
do it – you’ve learned from the best.

So, this is heavy material and the information is packed in
tightly so that when you end your week with MASFAA, you are prepared to return
to your office as a knowledgeable resource on a variety of financial aid
topics. That being said, MASFAA Summer Institute faculty are engaging and fun
and turn what could be dry material into interesting learning opportunities.
For example, how many times have you seen Vickie Crupper (Michigan) in her
pajamas teaching a course on PJs?

Since my time at Summer Institute, I have served on the
boards of both our state and regional associations, volunteered hours of time
to both associations, and loved every minute of it. I have widened my network
of colleagues and count many MASFAA members among friends. And now, five years
later, I have the opportunity to return to Summer Institute as a faculty
member. I couldn’t wait to tell Candi Frazier when I saw her at the FSA
Conference this past fall – she was instrumental in building my foundation. I
hope you’ll consider joining me in June on the Illinois State University Campus
for a week of intense financial aid training. Who knows where your foundation will
take you!

Monday, May 16, 2016

by Faith Phillips

The theme “It All Starts with Us: Opportunity, Access,
Success” was a great message for all that attended the conference at the
Bertram, Inn in Aurora, Ohio May 4 – 6, 2016.
We had 206 attendees and welcomed 31 New Members/ first time OASFAA
conference attendees. They were invited
to join us for the New Member Welcome/Introduction to OASFAA session just for
them!

For the first time in a long time the OASFAA conference
began with a Pre-Conference offering NASFAA Credentialing on Student
eligibility. Lindsay Walton of the
University of Mount Union and Emily Haynam-Janero of The Ohio State University did
an excellent job as presenters conveying not only general eligibility requirements
but shared great detail about how database matches and NSLDS information are
used to determine and monitor student eligibility. We had over 50 registrants and the feedback
from this training was very positive. We
hope to offer more NASFAA Credentialing over the next year.

The conference opened with a MASFAA update from MASFAA
President-Elect and Associate Vice President for Financial Aid at Indian
Wesleyan University, Thomas Ratliff.
Thomas provided great information about the state of MASFAA, promoted
the upcoming MASFAA Summer Institute and Leadership Symposium as well as the
fall conference in Kansas City. Thomas
was not only informative but quite witty.
In addition to kicking off our conference, Thomas also presented an
interest session on Required Eligibility Updates to the Department of ED (PPA
and ECAR). His knowledge and humor were welcomed!

Also joining was the MASFAA State Representative Exchange,
Amy Hagar from Moberly Area Community College and MASFAP President-Elect. Amy graciously presented on Consumer
Information and Disclosure Requirements. It was
a pleasure to host both Thomas and Amy.

We were honored to have Justin Draeger, President and CEO of
NASFAA provide a NASFAA update as well as the status on The Hill at our general
session on Thursday. Given the upcoming
presidential election, it was not surprising that Justin provided a few laughs
during his update. We had the pleasure
of meeting Justin’s son, Truman, who like his dad, arrived in a shirt, tie and
slacks looking very much like a mini-Justin.

During the OASFAA Business Meeting, Amanda Reisinger, OASFAA
President presented Phillips, Director of Financial Aid at COTC/Ohio
State Newark with the prestigious James W. White Award. This award is given annually to a member who
exemplifies the dedication to students, to the aid community, and to the
recipient’s local community-qualities that were so evident in Jim’s career as
Director of Financial Aid at Oberlin College.

The Support Professional Award that recognizes an individual
or team of support/clerical professionals reporting to an OASFAA member was
awarded to Lisa Jackson, Administrative Clerk at Kent State-Ashtabula. Lisa was nominated by her supervisor Kristina
Call and was not only very surprised to win the award but also to see that her
mother and Dean came to see the presentation of her award.

Thanks to our entertainment chairs we celebrated in the
evening and tapped into our inner Picasso with Canvas and Wine! A good time was had by all doesn’t even being
to describe the fun we had!

Attending OASFAA for the first time was FSA Training Officer Zack Goodwin. Zack provided interest sessions on Perkins Loan Issues, Academic Calendars (Modules), Unusual Enrollment History, and FAFSA Updates and PPY. He closed our conference with a Federal Update. The OASFAA Gavel was passed by President Amanda Reisinger to President-Elect Faith Phillips. It was a fulfilled informative week with our colleagues and friends.

Monday, May 9, 2016

by David Peterson, SI Faculty 2016

I attended MASFAA Summer Institute in 1995 at Illinois State
University. That was only 21 years ago, but 1995 was a very different
time than now. Cell phones were rarely seen. Internet access wasn’t
a concern. Nearly all of the presentations for the 135+ participants were
done by overhead projector. All of us sat in one ballroom for the
training sessions. We got huge binders that we had to carry with us
everywhere. Still, Summer Institute in 1995 was cutting edge training for
new financial aid professionals. In fact, MASFAA was viewed by financial
aid leaders from all of the regional associations as having the best new
professional training in the country.

In 1998 I was given the opportunity to serve as faculty for
Summer Institute. The other faculty that year included Pam Fowler, Zina
Haywood, Rebecca Babel, Ginny Washington, David Woodward, Will Shaffner and
Jerry Wade. It was like a who’s who of MASFAA leadership at the
time. I was completely in awe of every one of them! I think they
realized it, and each of them went out of their way to help me out.
Serving on faculty was an incredible experience, and allowed me to really
develop myself as a financial aid professional.

Now I have been given the opportunity to serve as a Summer Institute
faculty member once more. Things have changed a lot since back
then. I remember the NASFAA training materials in 1997 were more like the
pirates code in the Pirates of the Carribean movies - what you'd call
"guidelines" for the presenters rather than actual rules. Now
in 2016, all of us have to be certified by NASFAA just to teach the subject
matter. One thing that hasn’t changed is the enthusiasm and knowledge of
the faculty itself. A really amazing group of financial aid professionals
are coming together to provide our association with a Summer Institute and
Leadership Symposium that will be second to none. Participants will get
training that prepares them to meet the demands of their campuses as well as
the NASFAA credential examinations. Illinois State University will once
again serve as our location, an incredible site for an incredible event.

So get excited for the MASFAA Summer Institute and Leadership
Symposium, and see you all at Illinois State University this June!

THE MASFAA SUMMER
INSTITUTE WILL BE HELD ON JUNE 13-17 AT ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY IN
BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. REGISTER
AT WWW.MASFAAWEB.ORG

Monday, May 2, 2016

Do you live in a world where you have enough time to read
and listen to everything you need to know? No. No you do not. And neither do I.
We do, however, live in a world where the resources to keep up with the
onslaught of information are getting better and better.

Today’s post is the first in a series aimed at sharing technological
resources that you can use to bring efficiency and adaptability to your life.
Each has varying degrees of difficulty to implement, but that’s why we have
friends in IT, right?

Do you ever listen to webinars from ED?
Aren’t they great? Except that the files are in .wmv format, which means you
have to sit at a Windows computer and watch the darn thing for two hours.

What if you could convert those time-consuming video files
to audio and download them to your iPhone or other portable device so you can
listen on the go?

Enter Zamzar.

Download the .wmv file from IFAP to your computer and then
simply upload it to the Zamzar website under Step 1 of their website. Choose
the file type that works best for you in Step 2. If you aren’t sure what format
to use for your device, .mp3 and .wav are likely what you need. Enter your
email address in Step 3 and wait for the converted file to arrive. You can
download the converted file from your email and then upload to your device
through programs like iTunes.

When 150% sub was rolling out, I found the 5 part webinar
series really helpful. Sitting and watching the webinar once was about all I
had time to do. When I found I could convert the file and put it on my iPhone
to listen to during my commute or while on the treadmill (fake example), I
listened to those webinars several times over. Being able to engage complex
information repeatedly helped me with understanding a lot of the nuances and
examples ED laid out.

Note: There is an
option to do RSS feeds on the IFAP website if you’re into that kind of thing.

If you have never attended one of ED’s webinars or looked
through their archive, take some time today to see what they have. If you see
something and think ain’t nobody got time for that, you might find Zamzar to be
a useful tool.